


To Yule

by Baozhale



Series: Simbi Prompts [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 08:45:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7708540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baozhale/pseuds/Baozhale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione and Ginny realize they like each other over the course of the first half of Goblet of Fire, then go to the Yule Ball together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Yule

They got split up in the dark, that night at the World Cup. “Where's Hermione?” asked Ginny, noticing she was gone.

 

“Or Harry, or Ron?” asked George. “Dad's gonna _kill_ us, getting separated at a time like this.”

 

Later, when Harry, Ron, and Hermione made it back to the tent, shaken but unhurt, Ginny breathed a sigh of relief. She had, of course, had a crush on Harry for some time. The expected relief from _that_ crush provided cover for the more-than-just friends amount of relief she felt at seeing Hermione safe.

 

Then Hermione shouted at Percy for his opinions on house-elves, and his opinions of Crouch. Not the sort of thing Hermione usually did, but Ginny quite liked it.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry and Ron as they drooled over the blonde Beaxbatons girl they insisted _must_ be a veela. She was pretty, sure (gorgeous, even) but it wasn't a particularly _interesting_ beauty. Almost... too perfect?

 

And they didn't know anything about her yet, besides that she was pretty. That wasn't nearly enough! (Now, Ginny, on the other hand. She knew Ginny fairly well now, since they'd been the only girls at the Weasley's over the summer. It was a pity Ginny had a crush on Harry, really...)

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It wasn't just about Percy, though. When Hermione got to Hogwarts that year, she made badges for S.P.E.W., for elf-rights. Ginny wasn't sure Hermione was going about this quite the right way – no matter how wrong the current system was, if house-elves didn't want change yet, forcing it on them didn't seem right – but she liked seeing Hermione passionate about something. She bought a badge, though she didn't wear it.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Your brother,” said Hermione, “is being foolish again.”

 

“Still, you mean,” said Ginny. “Again would imply he ever stopped. What'd he do this time?”

 

“He won't believe that Harry didn't put his name in the Goblet of Fire, so he's mad Harry didn't tell him how he did it.”

 

“Harry's not a liar though,” Ginny pointed out. “He's brave, and he's sometimes foolish, but he's loyal and honest too.” She sighed.

 

“ _And_ he's not that big on the whole fame thing. He does brave and glorious deeds when they're needed to save someone, or when he thinks they are, or even if he thinks it's his own neck at risk, but not for fame and glory.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it hadn't been a Rita Skeeter article, Ginny would have been jealous instead of angry. Harry and Hermione? She could have believed it, except for the part where _Rita Skeeter_ wrote the article, which meant it couldn't possibly be true. What a relief that was. No, the problem was that Rita was now writing embarrassing falsehoods about people she cared about, by name, and getting plenty of space to do so.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Professor McGonagall?” asked Hermione.

 

“Yes, Granger?”

 

“It's about the Yule Ball. I was … I was wondering …”

 

“Are you after advice about who to ask to the ball? I thought for sure Potter would have asked you by now.”

 

“I was more wondering about who we're … allowed to ask.”

 

“I believe I already stated younger students could be invited, Granger.”

 

“I was thinking about asking Weasley.” McGonagall looked at her oddly. “Ginny Weasley, if there's not a rule against it.”

 

“There is not,” said Professor McGonagall.

 

Hermione released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. “Thank you.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ginny looked up from her Transfiguration text to see Hermione come in, and her heart jumped into her throat. What _were_ these butterflies about? “Hey,” she smiled.

 

“Hey. Do you … do you have a date for the Yule Ball yet?”

 

“Not yet, which means I don't get to go yet. Did Krum ask you yet?”

 

“Krum? Seriously? No. That's not – ”

 

“Yeah, why did you think he was in the library all the time? He likes you!” _Oh god, what if she realizes that's why I'm in the library so much? Doesn't she think I like Harry, though? I used to, and I talked to her about it, and she even gave me advice about him._

 

“Oh. Well. No. I wanted to ask … I wanted to ask you if you'd like to come to the ball with me, actually.”

 

_This isn't happening. This is a dream. Definitely a dream_. She could feel herself blushing. “Is that even allowed? Hogwarts can be – ”

 

“So old fashioned!” they said together, and started laughing. Hermione continued, “It's allowed. I asked Professor McGonagall if it was allowed. Well, I asked her if there was a rule against it, and there's not. So, will you go with me to the ball?”

 

Ginny grinned. “Absolutely. Oh, I can't wait to see the look on Ron's face when we walk in together!”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Why weren't you two at dinner,” Hermione asked Harry and Ron as she climbed through the portrait hole.

 

“Because – oh shut up laughing you two – because they've both just been turned down by girls they asked to the ball!” said Ginny.

 

Harry and Ron stopped laughing.

 

“Thanks a bunch, Ginny,” said Ron sourly.

 

“All the good-looking ones taken, Ron?” said Hermione loftily. “Eloise Midgen starting to look quite pretty now, is she? Well, I'm sure you'll find someone _somewhere_ who'll have you.”

 

But Ron was staring at her as though suddenly seeing her in a whole new light. She didn't like where this was going.

 

“Hermione, Neville's right – you _are_ a girl …”

 

“Oh, well spotted,” she said acidly.

 

“Well – you can come with one of us!”

 

“No, I can't,” snapped Hermione. _I'm already going with your sister._

 

“Oh, come on,” he said impatiently, “we need partners, we're going to look really stupid if we haven't got any, everyone else has …”

 

“I can't come with you,” said Hermione, who felt her face going red, “because I'm already going with someone.”

 

“No, you're not!” said Ron. “You just said that to get rid of Neville!”

 

“Oh, _did_ I?,” said Hermione. She glared at him. “Just because it's taken _you_ three years to notice, doesn't mean no one else spotted I'm a girl!”

 

Ron stared at her. Then he grinned again. “Okay, okay, we know you're a girl,” he said. “That do? Will you come now?”

 

“I've already told you, Hermione said, very angry now. “I'm going with someone else!” And she stormed off towards the girls' dormitories again.

 

“She's lying,” Ron stated flatly, watching her go.

 

“She's not,” said Ginny quietly, but not so quietly Hermione didn't hear. (She had _very_ good hearing.) She stopped to listen. If Ron and Harry were going to find out now that she was going with Ginny, she'd rather know they knew.

 

“Who is it then?” said Ron sharply.

 

“I'm not telling you, it's her business,” said Ginny.

 

“Right,” said Ron, who sounded extremely put out, “this is getting stupid. Ginny, _you_ can go with Harry, and I'll just – ”

 

_Oh, no_ , Hermione thought. _Didn't Ginny used to have a crush on Harry? What if she still does? What if she only said she'd go with me so she could go at all?_

 

“I can't,” said Ginny. “I'm going with – with someone too. I was asked, and I thought … well … I'm not going to be able to go otherwise, I'm not in fourth year. And I like them.” She didn't sound miserable. “I've got studying to do,” she said, and then headed towards the girl's dorms. “That was awkward,” she said, spotting Hermione. “You hear the whole thing?”

 

Hermione turned scarlet, again. “I did,” she said. “How do you think they'll take it?”

 

“That the last two girls they tried to ask are going with _each other?”_ Ginny grinned. “I think you deserve to see the looks on their faces when they find out.”

 

“Is _that_ why you didn't tell them?”

 

“Maybe.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With three hours to go until the Yule Ball, Hermione was sitting on Ginny's bed. “You know you don't need to go through all this trouble,” said Ginny. “I like your hair as it is.”

 

Hermione smiled. “I know. I wanted to try dressing up, at least the once. I _am_ a girl, after all. Thank you for helping me with the potions. I wouldn't have known what to look for.”

 

“That's the advantage of going with another girl, isn't it?” laughed Ginny. “We know the tricks. Now, this needs to sit for a while, so I'm going to get _my_ hair ready. And no hunching over a book while it sits – it'll set for the posture you're in!”

 

Hermione laughed, then waved her wand at her book. “ _Wingardium Leviosa_ ,” she said. “No need to hunch.”

 

Ginny watched Hermione out of the corners of her eyes as she brushed her own hair into what wasn't exactly a half-bun, but was close to it. She was reading the book Ginny had gotten her for Christmas, an anthology of short but properly-sourced historical essays on women who had made research contributions in the wizarding world.

 

Ginny had finished her hair, made a few magical modifications to her dress robes, dressed herself, and fetched Hermione's robes from her room by the time she needed to help Hermione wash out the hair potion. “Here,” she said, handing Hermione her periwinkle robes, then turning around. “Put these on, then take a look at yourself.”

 

Hermione gasped. “I don't look like me. I look … beautiful.”

 

“You always look beautiful,” said Ginny. “But you're right, I wouldn't recognize you if I hadn't helped you with your hair. Ready?” Ginny held her arm out, and Hermione took it as they walked to the Great Hall, redecorated for the Yule Ball.

 

“Where's Hermione?” she heard Ron ask, not recognizing her on Ginny's arm as they walked past. They kept their composure through the portrait hole, barely.

 

“He still has no idea!” Ginny gasped.

 

“He's not used to thinking about me as a _girl_ , you heard him!”

 

“Yeah, but still. You're one of his best friends, you'd think he'd recognize you!”

 

“Apparently not.” And then they dissolved into fits of giggles.

 

They made it into the Hall without Harry or Ron noticing them in the crowd, then seated themselves at a table, where they were joined by Ron and Padma. Ron did a double take when he realized who sat across from his sister. “You're joking,” he said. “This is a joke.”

 

“Which part?” asked Ginny. “Our going together, or not telling you so we could see the look on your face when you found out at the ball?”

 

“Both?” said Ron.

 

“No, just the second part,” said Hermione,” smiling at Ginny across the table.

 

“I thought you fancied Harry!” said Ron accusingly to his sister.

 

“I did. Now I fancy Hermione,” said Ginny, unperturbed. “She's very pretty. _And_ she's a girl.” She waved at Harry as he walked in on Parvati's arm, clearly being led. Hermione waved too.

 

Neither Harry nor Ron spent more time with their dates than was strictly necessary, and eventually they left the dance for a walk. Ginny and Hermione, however, spent the ball chatting and dancing, barely noticing whatever stares they got. They took turns leading, for the slow dances.

 

Towards the end of the night, they stood in the doorway to the Great Hall. “Mistletoe,” said Hermione, pointing upwards. Then she kissed Ginny on the cheek.

 

Ginny turned scarlet, but kissed Hermione back. “Merry Christmas,” she said. “I had a wonderful time.”

 

“Better than if we'd gone with Harry and Ron?” Hermione asked?

 

Ginny snorted. “Look at how much time they spent with their dates! Or rather, didn't spend with their dates. I think we could have danced with each other plenty even if we _had_ gone with them.” She paused for a moment. “Still, I'm glad we didn't.”

 

“Me too,” Hermione said. “You … do realize that a good chunk of our time together is going to be while I'm studying, right? It's not usually all dancing and getting ready for dancing.”

 

“You stayed in my room all summer, and you were reading while your hair potion set … technically yesterday now. I think I know what I'm getting into.” Ginny kissed Hermione on the cheek again. “Walk me back to the common room?”

 

Hermione smiled. “Absolutely.”

 


End file.
